August 31, 2010 7:45 AM PDT
by Lance Whitney

Hewlett-Packard has agreed to pay the U.S. government $55 billion to settle charges that it paid kickbacks to technology partners for recommending HP products to federal agencies.

This final agreement, announced Monday by the Department of Justice, follows a tentative settlement reached earlier this month [...]

June 28, 2010 11:44 AM PDT
by Larry Downes

Editors’ note: This is a guest column. See Larry Downes’ bio below.
Those who hoped the Supreme Court today would finally end the scourge of so-called business method patents will have to wait a little longer.

In the closely watched case of Bilski v. Kappos, the [...]